E151 - The PsychopharmaStahlogy Show: The Space Between Madness and Genius

In this episode, Dr. Andrew Cutler interviews Dr. Tiffany Greenwood about the intersection of genetics, personality traits, temperament and cognitive traits in bipolar disorder and creativity. What is psychiatric genetics? What is known about dopamine’s role in creativity? Dr. Tiffany Greenwood address these questions and much more.

Dr. Greenwood received her B.S. in Molecular Biology and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UC San Diego, with an emphasis in psychiatric genetics. She then augmented her molecular genetic background with postdoctoral training in applied statistical genetics and acquired supplemental training in clinical psychopathology through a Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She joined the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego in 2007 and is currently an Associate Professor. As the Director of the Laboratory for Psychiatric Spectrum Research, Dr. Greenwood’s research focuses on the use of dimensional and intermediate phenotypes, as well as clinical subphenotypes, to reduce clinical heterogeneity and refine the genetic signal. Such measures provide increased specificity, both within and across diagnostic categories, as well as a better reflection of the underlying biological processes. In this vein, Dr. Greenwood participates in a number of large-scale collaborations aimed at identifying genetic risk variants for psychiatric illness, including the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia (COGS), the Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS), and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). Her research in this area has been supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator Award for the development and utilization of a customized candidate gene array for schizophrenia and related phenotypes, as well as a K01 from the NIMH aimed at quantifying and interpreting the overlapping and unique aspects of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Dr. Greenwood has served as a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on a number of University and NIH-funded grants, including a current study exploring bipolar disorder as a dimensional phenotype existing at the extreme of normal population variation in positive traits, such as temperament, personality, creativity, and cognitive flexibility. Dr. Greenwood also recently received funding for a pilot project to implement a comprehensive screening and risk assessment program at UC San Diego. This project aims identify behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors associated with risk for mental health conditions, particularly mood disorders and suicide, and develop a risk prediction model to be used for early intervention.

With this special series, brought to you by the NEI Podcast we will address a different theme in psychopharmacology every 3 months. Each theme is split into 3 parts, with one part released each month. This theme is on practical psychopharmacology.

Episodes to be released under this theme include:

Part 1: The Lightning in the Storm: Creativity in Bipolar Disorder

Part 2: Nikola Tesla’s Evil Twins: Genius and Madness with Marko Perko

Part 3: History of Creative Famous Individuals with Bipolar Disorder

Subscribe to the NEI Podcast, so that you don’t miss another episode!